Most players dont run this units but fluffwise i played them from time to time

when i played them i was also going into CC with rhuin sword of fire, which was really great.. in 8th the spell changed to what we know now, also as everyone knows striking is in INI order

In 7th i could protect myself playing dragonmage with striking first on the attack with the sundragon, now he would at least against many units of middle tier armies strike last and his crush em attacks will be the last attack in total. At that point the dragon mage could be dead already even with him ASF striking (INI 6, so should have rerolls)

if there wont be any fire sword spell or similar i think dragon mage will be gone, even in fluff games :/

also to mention that terror is gone and just activates in CC, so no terror effect anymore

about the same with archmage.. but he at least can have a 4+ wardsave wher 5+ phonix guard can be usefull but in my opinion if u play a dragon mage u should go offense

archmage is of course too expensive maybe to field him on dragon and not good enough in CC (dragon mage has at least 2 A in profile and higher INI), if u field him on moondragon at all, the dragon shoudl be in CC with the new bonus attacks etc

flusswise i really like the dragonmage, not only because he is our "manticore" on herolvl tho

what do u guys think.. still a use for dragon mage/tactics, worth the points etc.. (not in tourney games)?maybe he gets a boost with new spells, gaining toughness with a life lore spell for example?

Well, as it stands it's all up in the air really. Until we get a chance to look at the new Fire Lore and the errata, we won't really have much of an idea how great the mage will be in next Ed. On the plus side, since power dice are capped at 12 per magic phase, his Reckless ability gains another boost. It's not all bad for our lord of fire chickens

_________________ETC Team Scotland 2013 - High ElvesETC Team Scotland 2014 - High Elves

I think it depends on your playstyle. If the combat rumors you've listed come true then you'll just have to adjust a bit. I attempt to never take the dragon mage into combat unless there is an extremely choice target that I know I will beat handily. So, for me, I don't know if those things will affect how much I use him as much as the % points cap on heros will.

My army current army design is based around the mage on moon dragon.I've had alot of success with him.I give'm vambraces and the seerstaff.He has an even chance of survival,and you can easily deliver terror and the casting radius of your four fave spells...right where you need it.I've found it only works good in conjunction with other fast elements;I use shadow warriors,reavers,lion chariot,DP's. It feels really good to beat a prince on stardragon with a AM on moon dragon.If you kill one of the 2 lvl 2's that are usually run w/ it.In the later rounds of the battle,once his scrolls are spent, you can beast cowers him every turn and maybe even kill him with the hunters spear.I make kamikaze attacks on bunkered mages with the reavers/SW and lion chariot.I've found the lion chariot to be great at murdering characters,the small frontage means you can choose where to hit and allocate all 6 CC attacks to some wizards face...it'll seal the deal.

if there wont be any fire sword spell or similar i think dragon mage will be gone, even in fluff games :/

I don't know about that. Usually I wouldn't even default to sword of ruin, and would just use my DM to generate a ton of extra power dice/spells if I'm doing a magic heavy list. (Let's face it, he's not /that/ great in combat with or without the flaming sword, and his dragon isn't all that impressive either, although they have the potential for some nice flank/rear charges).

In 8th he'll have a much larger incentive to stay out of combat because, really, it becomes a death sentance for him if people get to step up and strike back at him. But he'll still be able to generate a lot of extra spells and dice, and there are supposedly some very hurty spells in 8th (although they'll come with an increased chance of the mages head blowing up and the dragon taking a s10 hit or w/e...) Terror and fear being toned down makes him a bit less fun though... I greatly enjoyed terror bombing low leadership armies (or portions of them, at least). When my DM really pulled his weight, it often involved doing some of that.

Well, terrorbombing is now definitely gone. The only way you can make a unit run away from you is when it fails it's terror check when you charge it. Plus, there's a much easier and cheaper way to do that via a common magic item (it's 25pts or something). Still, the Dragon mage does have the extra casting dice (invaluable in 8th ed!) his Dragon has a once-per-game breath attack at 2D6 and a D6 Thunderstomp attack at base strength PLUS his attacks. Despite all this, I still wouldn't chuck him into combat as often and maybe roll around the sides killing smaller units and causing devastation with his spells.

_________________ETC Team Scotland 2013 - High ElvesETC Team Scotland 2014 - High Elves

I think archmage +dragon mage is going be a powerful combo. Although the 2D6 thing is only going to be strength 2. The mage combo'd with banner of sorc can push you way over the amount of dice allowed per phase. With the archmage perhaps taking seerstaff to get the dragon spell and the dragon mage to get silver wand. Only being allowed one scroll you can just leave the archmage blank and cheap. Turn one he turns into a dragon and presto, you have a mage ready to take all the dice (Plus his own one) and dominate the magic phase!

What's more worrying is that missile units can be bigger/get more shots, so it's a good deal easier to shoot him off the top of his dragon if you're not really careful about position (which means your opponent can do a lot to dictate your position, so long as you're trying to keep the mage up top alive. I haven't seen the new fire spells though. Any interesting ones that don't take line of sight, or have really big range (> longbows?)